As I write it is Thanksgiving Day and we have celebrated with approximately two dozen friends and family. The dinner was a chef's masterpiece presented in a beautiful setting. As the hostess called us to gather round the table her husband thanked God for the blessing of living in a free country. How refreshing to hear average citizens in the 21^st Century raise voices in praise to God as the author of liberty.

The early colonists recognized that the great gift of self-government came from God. Therefore the first Thanksgiving was a religious occasion, an occasion to thank God for His blessings on us.

There were no football rivalries to watch on television or door buster specials to usher in Black Friday. In fact, there was no turkey at the first Thanksgiving. If that surprises you it may also come as a surprise to hear that the picture of the Pilgrims celebrating Thanksgiving with the Indians in Plymouth, Massachusetts does not commemorate the first Thanksgiving in America. Earlier this week President Bush visited Berkeley Plantation near Jamestown, Virginia where the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1619, one year before the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth Colony and two years before they included the Indians.

But the when, where and who of Thanksgiving is less important that what it's about. "Historically, Thanksgiving is about renewing the bond between Americans and their Creator. It's a time when we are reminded that our rights come from God and that we have responsibilities to God as free citizens" writes former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

The phrase "our rights come from God" is deeply rooted in American history. It may seem innocuous in the 21^st Century but in 1776 it was open rebellion against the English Crown. It meant that King George III had no right to rule America. America's King was God.

It was more than a century and a half after the Pilgrims made the Mayflower Compact that America elected it first President. During his first year in office President George Washington issued a proclamation calling for a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer." In his Thanksgiving proclamation, Washington wrote: "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

More than seventy years later, in the midst of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving Day in October of 1863. He wrote, "no human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

These are the words of sober minded men who guided America through the most critical periods of our nation's history. Their testimony is that our national blessings come from the God who created us. It is to Him we give thanks.

Until next time,